Chelsea Grayson

And then, look, as you're getting bigger and bigger, since we're talking big brands here, and all entrepreneurs want their companies to go from a seedling to being Apple. Yeah. You know, you got to check in with your board, at the very least your chair once in a while, not every single day, but your board should be in the loop.

The last thing you want is to surprise your board of directors with anything. Boards of directors are, and listen, I'm speaking in the first person here because this is what I do for a living now, were crotchety people. cranky, you know, we've been doing this for a long time. We're sort of grizzled. And when we get surprised by something, we get scared. And when we get scared, we get mad.

The last thing you want is to surprise your board of directors with anything. Boards of directors are, and listen, I'm speaking in the first person here because this is what I do for a living now, were crotchety people. cranky, you know, we've been doing this for a long time. We're sort of grizzled. And when we get surprised by something, we get scared. And when we get scared, we get mad.

The last thing you want is to surprise your board of directors with anything. Boards of directors are, and listen, I'm speaking in the first person here because this is what I do for a living now, were crotchety people. cranky, you know, we've been doing this for a long time. We're sort of grizzled. And when we get surprised by something, we get scared. And when we get scared, we get mad.

You know, we don't stay scared for too long. We're angry and we're irritable. So don't surprise us with stuff. You know, give us previews of coming attractions. Things that in three weeks you might need approvals on, you can't drop it on us in three weeks. You've got to start to lay the foundation for things.

You know, we don't stay scared for too long. We're angry and we're irritable. So don't surprise us with stuff. You know, give us previews of coming attractions. Things that in three weeks you might need approvals on, you can't drop it on us in three weeks. You've got to start to lay the foundation for things.

You know, we don't stay scared for too long. We're angry and we're irritable. So don't surprise us with stuff. You know, give us previews of coming attractions. Things that in three weeks you might need approvals on, you can't drop it on us in three weeks. You've got to start to lay the foundation for things.

And listen, the bigger you get, there are things that are going to require board approval. You can't ignore that. So I would say stay in touch with your chair, you know, regularly as a CEO.

And listen, the bigger you get, there are things that are going to require board approval. You can't ignore that. So I would say stay in touch with your chair, you know, regularly as a CEO.

And listen, the bigger you get, there are things that are going to require board approval. You can't ignore that. So I would say stay in touch with your chair, you know, regularly as a CEO.

Yeah, and to your point, you haven't always handpicked your whole board, right? Some folks you may have handpicked, but others, sure, shareholders who put a lot of money into your company, they'll have rights to appoint one or two directors, and you really don't have a whole heck of a lot of say in it, you know? So, yeah, you've got to learn right about that. Yeah.

Yeah, and to your point, you haven't always handpicked your whole board, right? Some folks you may have handpicked, but others, sure, shareholders who put a lot of money into your company, they'll have rights to appoint one or two directors, and you really don't have a whole heck of a lot of say in it, you know? So, yeah, you've got to learn right about that. Yeah.

Yeah, and to your point, you haven't always handpicked your whole board, right? Some folks you may have handpicked, but others, sure, shareholders who put a lot of money into your company, they'll have rights to appoint one or two directors, and you really don't have a whole heck of a lot of say in it, you know? So, yeah, you've got to learn right about that. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Boy, once you go public, if you're going to do that, you do that to avail yourself of all the dry powder in the capital markets, of course, and that's great, but it certainly doesn't come without its issues. Then you've not just got a board of directors, some of whom were designated as independent, so they're there just to represent all the shareholders.

Yeah, absolutely. Boy, once you go public, if you're going to do that, you do that to avail yourself of all the dry powder in the capital markets, of course, and that's great, but it certainly doesn't come without its issues. Then you've not just got a board of directors, some of whom were designated as independent, so they're there just to represent all the shareholders.

Yeah, absolutely. Boy, once you go public, if you're going to do that, you do that to avail yourself of all the dry powder in the capital markets, of course, and that's great, but it certainly doesn't come without its issues. Then you've not just got a board of directors, some of whom were designated as independent, so they're there just to represent all the shareholders.

But you've got big shareholder meetings. You've got folks weighing in constantly. You've got directors who know that they're being scrutinized by the public markets. And so they're really watching it. And then it becomes much, much more difficult to move things along or change things or switch up. And you're going to start to wonder why you went public in the first place. Yeah.

But you've got big shareholder meetings. You've got folks weighing in constantly. You've got directors who know that they're being scrutinized by the public markets. And so they're really watching it. And then it becomes much, much more difficult to move things along or change things or switch up. And you're going to start to wonder why you went public in the first place. Yeah.

But you've got big shareholder meetings. You've got folks weighing in constantly. You've got directors who know that they're being scrutinized by the public markets. And so they're really watching it. And then it becomes much, much more difficult to move things along or change things or switch up. And you're going to start to wonder why you went public in the first place. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, right, you're never going to be able to be as entrepreneurial. And the best of CEOs say, oh, I want to maintain that entrepreneurial spirit within the four walls of this company. And you can to a certain extent, right? You know, you can hire folks that have that spirit. But yeah, you know, it's like trying to turn the Titanic away from the iceberg.